A Woman Sitting by the Window - Evening Thou Bringest All
Print
1803 (published), ca. 1802 (made)
1803 (published), ca. 1802 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Lithography was invented by Aloys Senefelder (1771-1834) in 1798. Its first applications were commercial, but Senefelder quickly recognised its potential as a medium for fine art. This print by Fuseli comes from the first portfolio of lithographs drawn by artists which was published by Philippe Andre in England in 1803. This consisted of 12 pen lithographs by artist such as Benjamin West, James Barry and Thomas Stothard, as well as Fuseli.
Fuseli was a painter and draughtsman whose work was much influenced by the theatre, and was often explicitly erotic.
Fuseli was a painter and draughtsman whose work was much influenced by the theatre, and was often explicitly erotic.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | Pen lithograph |
| Brief description | Lithograph by Fuseli from 'Specimens of Polyautography'. Great Britain, ca. 1803. |
| Physical description | A woman in a low-cut dress is seated on a sofa; her face is turned away as she looks out of the window behind. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | This print is among the first lithographs ever created and published in Britain. The process was invented in Germany in 1796 by Alois Senefelder. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Lithography was invented by Aloys Senefelder (1771-1834) in 1798. Its first applications were commercial, but Senefelder quickly recognised its potential as a medium for fine art. This print by Fuseli comes from the first portfolio of lithographs drawn by artists which was published by Philippe Andre in England in 1803. This consisted of 12 pen lithographs by artist such as Benjamin West, James Barry and Thomas Stothard, as well as Fuseli. Fuseli was a painter and draughtsman whose work was much influenced by the theatre, and was often explicitly erotic. |
| Bibliographic reference | The following excerpts are from Pennell, Joseph, and Elizabeth Robins Pennell. Lithography and Lithographers Some Chapters in the History of the Art. T. Fischer Unwin, 1898:
'It is curious that for several years in England, the country to which Senefelder first came to protect his patents [in 1800], and to whose artists he looked rather than to those of his native land to take up and practise the art he had invented, hardly any lithographs were made, save a few prints by the French refugees living in London and two albums of 'Polyautography' as lithography at that time was called.
On April 30, 1803, a volume containing twelve prints was issued by His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, entitled 'Specimens of Polyautography, Consisting of Impressions taken from the Original Drawings made purposely for this Work...'. The prints were by Stothard, Warwick, Delamotte, R. Corbould, R. Cooper, Hearne, Fuseli, Barry, Sir R. K. Porter, Barker, and Benjamin West. They were republished in 1806 by G.J. Vollweiler under the title 'Specimens of Polyautography, Consisting of Impressions taken from the Original Drawings, Made on Stone, purposely for this Work'. The new publisher even copied the yellow mounts of the first publication.
The South Kensington Museum possesses a portfolio, not however in the original cover, to which someone has affixed the title: 'Polyautographic Society, Examples of Forty Original Drawings'. The 12 drawings of the original portfolio reappear in this collection...The dates of these drawings range from 1802 to 1816. Several bear at the foot the inscription : London, Printed from a Pen and Ink Drawing on Stone at the Polyautographic Office, No 9 Buckingham Place, Fitzroy Square. The South Kensington title is incorrect. Three drawings of boats by Cornelius Varley in this portfolio are dated 1809...and as others come as late as 1816, one begins to wonder whether the collection at South Kensington has not had at least four prints of later date added to it, and there is no evidence whatever that there ever was a Polyautographic Society, or that it was published as an album'. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1107-1899 |
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| Record created | December 23, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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